Hello, I am Annalisa I am 29 years old and I am a southerner. I live in a town named Lucera located in Puglia. My town has experienced the influence of the various peoples and religions that have passed through it over the centuries, and, perhaps this influence has passed through me as well. I am an ‘educator by profession and vocation and an explorer by passion.

I met ASCS in an informal settlement in Apulia, perhaps a hopeless place for some, but, it was there that Father Jonas talking about the camps around Italy lit a flame in me and suggested that I leave to explore other realities so that I could return to my own area and be able to do more.

I have done many camps with them in a very few years, from the first one in Cosenza where we rediscovered our roots and actually that we are all foreigners; To the one in Ventimiglia where I was able to see another face of migration that is not the settled one that I usually experience in my territory, but, it is the one of human mobility that scratched me deeply. The camp in the Agro Pontino where I met a sick girl with whom I was able to talk about my problems as a girl just like her. Finally, this year I left with ASCS for Lampedusa the ”rock” in the Mediterranean, which, first welcomes migrants arriving in Puglia or transiting to the borders. It was touching to be able to see the landing place of many, but, also the other side of the island that is not only made of pain and migration but also of boys, of life, of dreams, a complex island full of contradictions. An island full of nuances.

Definitely the most touching part of the experience with More Bridges Less Walls, ASCS’s youth ministry, occurred this year in organizing a camp in my area. I am very attached to my origins and to my land that is so beautiful and so complex at times. Thanks to the young people who came this year I was able to see through other eyes my land, and, in showing it to them I also saw the colors that distinguish it.

In ASCS I found a place not only physical, where I could be myself express my potential, talk about dreams, plan and why not a place where I would not be ashamed of my many shades of color and character, but, be able to express them totally.

If I had to think of one word that would sum up my experience with ASCS, it is definitely shades of color.

In my many experiences with ASCS what has struck me most is the color these have left in my life, color that breaks down the monochrome of selfishness of fear and even why not of gray days.

Therefore, I wish ASCS to continue to be a collector of shades of color.

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